One of Arlington’s four city council races will decide who serves the part of the city where tens of thousands of people live and work and millions visit for entertainment.
District 1 ranges from tucked away pockets of neighborhoods to the increasingly busier entertainment district, one of the city’s major economic engines.
The winner in the race – the only Arlington City Council seat without an incumbent this election cycle – will have to balance the needs of both extremes and everything in-between, including rows of older apartment complexes and the master-planned community Viridian.
“That’s the challenge we face right now. The city is growing fast,” said Mauricio Galante, one of three candidates for District 1. “We need to balance the interests of the residents that want to preserve the character of the city.”
Galante is running against Tim Goss and Jacob Franklin. All three said they would like to bring in more businesses to the area.
Franklin said he would prioritize mixed-use developments, or projects that build housing in close quarters with businesses. He said mixed-use would add in more housing choices to encourage affordability, while expanding opportunities for shops, retail and office space.
“I would like to see that be a focus and kind of allow both to grow side by side in the area. But one of my priorities is providing more housing units to kind of combat the housing affordability crisis,” Franklin said.
Franklin said the district also needs better infrastructure, particularly for pedestrians and cyclists.
Goss said he’s opposed to more apartment complexes in the area. Instead, District 1 needs to bring in more businesses. While the district is home to a range of housing options, the area does not have a wide variety of restaurants or shops. That means north Arlington residents have to leave their part of town to go out – especially on a game day.
“If you want to have a quiet place to go, have dinner or go shopping in our little area here, there’s really not that much available to us,” Goss said. “You have to go to Hurst, or you have to drive all the way down south to South Arlington.”
North Arlington holds the largest share of multi-family housing units, a planning term that generally describes housing options like apartments. A 2020 inventory of housing units showed that the part of town generally north of Interstate 30 had 15,248 multifamily units, or nearly 33% of the multifamily housing stock in the city.
Several of North Arlington’s apartment complexes need to be redeveloped, Galante said – and the district needs cheaper home-buying options so residents can build wealth instead of rent.
“When we redevelop, we need to put quality there,” Galante said. “We need, really, to get housing with more quality and really think carefully if we want to continue or if we want to explore the buying opportunity.”
Redevelopment key as build-out approaches
Current and former city council members have sought developers who could breathe new life – and introduce modern and walkable areas – into a city that is running out of undeveloped land.
Less than 7% of land in Arlington is considered vacant and developable – roughly 3,318 acres. That means the city is close to build-out – and that city leaders have sought ways to incentivize developers to rebuild instead of build on new land.
Karabi Bezboruah, a UT Arlington public affairs and planning professor, said redevelopment is harder than new development because of risked displacement, costs and the profile of the rest of the neighborhood.
“How would (the redeveloped property) look with the community that’s already been there, like with the other buildings, will it look different? Will it be an eyesore?” Bezboruah said. “They have to look at all of these issues before even going for redevelopment.”
Multiple areas of town are either approaching or in the middle of transformations. Arlington City Council recently approved plans to redevelop Lincoln Square, north Arlington’s landmark shopping center, into a mixed-use development known as Anthem. Council members are working with stakeholders to realize projects around what’s known as the International Corridor – a stretch of businesses near Pioneer Parkway and State Highway 360 home to racially and ethnically diverse communities and business owners.
That’s where Long Pham, who’s running unopposed for a second term as at-large District 6 council member, said he’d like to see new apartments supplant more dated ones.
“If we can get them to come in and apply for tax credits and redevelop the area, that can make it look really nice on Pioneer Parkway,” Pham said.
Arlington City Council have approved changes to city codes over the last few years to encourage more and different types of development.
Raul Gonzalez, an incumbent running unopposed for District 2, said changes to the city’s list of development codes have allowed people to build smaller homes on smaller lots.
“Young people don’t want to work on the yard,” Gonzalez said. “They want a place to, you know, live and own rather than pay rent all the time.”
Incumbent District 7 Council Member Bowie Hogg said a newly developed zoning designation has brought in a small-business-friendly development avenue. The city in 2023 created a flexible hybrid zoning district that lends to businesses that need smaller industrial spaces like research and development or e-commerce.
“Those are things that specifically help a small business grow,” he said. “You may only need 5,000 square feet to start in there, but then quickly, you may grow enough to need 10,000. And that’s kind of growing our own.
Chris Dobson is running against Hogg in District 7. He said he’d like to see Arlington Economic Development Corporation funds go toward a wider array of businesses.
“We were originally told that the Economic Development Corporation was there to help businesses recover from COVID, and as of yet, we haven’t seen a policy or program that does that,” Dobson said.
City officials should also revisit the methods to incentivize businesses that undergo major projects, Dobson said, and seek apartment redevelopment opportunities that allow residents to buy their homes and begin building wealth.
“There’s a lot of apartments in north Arlington, some of them Section 8, that I think could be converted into condominiums to help people build equity,” he said.
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